The Best of Relations

A Pride and Prejudice Variation

By: Catherine Bilson

Narrated by: Catherine Bilson

What if...Aunt Gardiner, who after all hailed from Lambton, was well-acquainted with the Darcy family, and knew of Wickham's misdemeanors? How would the story have been different?

This tale begins with an exchange of letters between Elizabeth Bennet and her favorite aunt, discussing the happenings in Hertfordshire as the Bennet family becomes acquainted with their new neighbors, the Bingleys and their house guest, Mr. Darcy.

©2015 Catherine Bilson (P)2021 Catherine Bilson

Much happiness

I adored this story. It is well written and narrated though I agree with another reviewer that the male voices are a bit off. I loved the outcome for Mary and also the direction for the younger girls. I never thought about how truly horrible a character Wickham is. Setting him loose in society at a time when men were scarce was a perfect way for him to do his worst. I have never understood why a brother or father had left him alone for so long. He clearly was without a conscience. He was a psychopath and probably insane as time passed. If he were a real person he probably wouldn’t live to old age if he continued his career of destroying people. My only complaint is that the story is not long enough and I would have enjoyed more development of all that happened. I like that Mrs. Bennet, Lydia and Mr. Collins were not at their worst and that poor Charlotte was not saddled with Mr. C. Well done.

Mrs Gardiner knows about Mr Wickham!

I had wondered why Aunt Gardiner didn't know what type of man George Wickham was if she grew up in Lambton. In this variation she does know. In painful detail. When Elizabeth writes to her about the charming Mr Wickham she drops everything and comes to visit immediately to warn the family. In a fun twist, she's also distantly related to the Darcys of Pemberly. Mr. Darcy's reaction when he comes face to face with her at the Netherfield ball is worth the price of the book. Get it!

Enjoyable story but problematic narration

I very much enjoyed reading (and later hearing) this story especially the twist with Mrs Gardiner's character. She was given a slightly darker aspect, which is understandable given her circumstances. I think I must have a vengeful personality because I so want Wickham punished for his crimes more than just sent off to the Americas. (Another author successfully did that using the Colonel in a short aside at the end. It was chilling.)

However I cringed with the portrayal of male voices. In my imagination, Darcy (nor any of the other young men) does not have a gravely voice. All the male characters sounded like they were gargling or had throat problems. It really needs another person to convincingly vocalize the men.

Lovely, sweet entertaining story

This was so enjoyable The story was sweet and not full of unnecessary angst. Things went smoothly and the bad guys got what was due to them. Madeline Gardner was magnificent Mrs. Bennett even behaved herself. It was a true pleasure to listen to this. I bought it on sale, which is a good thing since it is only 3 and 1/2 hours long - a perfect length for the story. The author read the book and she did an excellent job, which is not always the case when authors also read the book. i am going to look to see if Catherine Bilson has written other books. I think she is very talented.

Enjoyed the story.

I liked the short angst free story. The narration was difficult to listen to at times. But I did enjoy the storyline.